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4 December 2012

Smoked Mackerel Pate with Chives

I have love smoked mackerel since I was a little girl when we used to buy them straight from the smoke house down in the harbour in the village where we spent the summers. The fish would hang from the ceiling in a dark room and the smell was just amazing. These days the smokehouse is no more, but instead I have my very own smoker.

Back then my favourite way to eat smoked mackerel was on a rye bread sandwich with thick slices of big, juicy tomato and lots of mayo. Although that is still hard to beat, I now prefer a bit of variety and the other day I finally tried making my own smoked mackerel pate. It took about 5 minutes and the result was pretty fantastic if I may say so myself. And although I would of course have the gorgeous whole smoked fish every time, this pate was made using the shrink wrapped supermarket variety and that worked just fine. Here is what I did:

Take the skin of the fish and put it in a blender. Add the rest of the ingredients and blitz until you get a nice smooth consistency that still has some texture. Check for seasoning and serve with sourdough toast, watercress, rocket and apple for a sort of fishy Ploughman's Lunch.